nayariverafandomcom-20200223-history
Naya Rivera
Naya Marie Rivera (previously: Naya Marie Rivera Dorsey; born January 12, 1987) is a Puerto Rican-American/African-American/German-American actress, singer & model. Early & Personal Life Naya was born & raised in Santa Clarita, California, modeled and acted throughout her childhood. As a baby, Rivera appeared in commercials for Kmart, but her first significant acting job was at the age of four when she starred as Hillary Winston in the Eddie Murphy produced sitcom The Royal Family in 1991.[1] Between 1992 and 2002, she had small roles in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Family Matters, Live Shot, Baywatch, Smart Guy, House Blend, Even Stevens and The Master of Disguise. In 2002 she also appeared in the music video for B2K's "Why I Love You". She was hired for a single-episode guest appearance on The Bernie Mac Show in 2002, but was brought back to work on a further five episodes. She was later featured in single episodes of 8 Simple Rules and CSI: Miami. In 2009, Rivera was cast as Cheerios cheerleading squad member Santana Lopez on Fox's musical comedy series Glee, about a high school glee club. Rivera's character comes off as a cold-hearted and vicious cheerleader, who often shows her softer side to fellow cheerleader Brittany (played by Heather Morris). Rivera auditioned for the opportunity "to sing, dance and act all in the same show," and because she was a fan of co-creator Ryan Murphy's previous work on Nip/Tuck. Rivera drew on her own high school experience of unpopularity to prepare for the role, as well as watching films such as Mean Girls to "really get in the zone and feel like a bitchy Sophomore". She has described Santana as "your typical high school cheerleader, for the most part," explaining: "She's really mean and loves boys. She's really witty so I love playing her." She has characterized Santana as "a bit of a bad girl" who is "really snarky and always has these really witty one-liners she throws out there." Rivera enjoys the fact Santana is competitive and headstrong as she herself shares those traits, but dislikes Santana's mean streak. She finds the show's pacing challenging, especially the dancing, and commented in June 2009 that her most memorable moment on Glee was performing the Cheerios' glee club audition piece, "I Say a Little Prayer". Santana played a more prominent part in the last nine episodes of Glee's first season. Rivera commented: "Santana's been wreaking havoc with people's boyfriends and people's babies and teachers—she's the high school terror, and she's going to continue to be the villain." In 2010 Rivera made the Maxim Hot 100 list, coming in at number 61 and in 2011 she got named 43. She also made the Afterellen Hot 100 list in both 2010 and 2011, premiering at 62 in 2010 and jumping to 1 in 2011. Naya Rivera hosted the 22nd GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco. In July 2011, Rivera was nominated for two awards, in the categories of "Favorite Female Music Artist" and "Favorite TV Actress - Leading Role in a Comedy". BuddyTV ranked her #3 on its "TV's 100 Sexiest Women of 2011" list. She received a great amount of critical praise for both her acting and her singing performances in the latter part of Season Two and the beginning of Season Three. As 2011 ended, she or her character were on many "Best Of" lists, including HitFix.com's 25 Breakout Stars of 2011, TV Guide's Best Performances of 2011, MTV's Best TV Characters of 2011, Yahoo!'s Television Without Pity 2011 TV's Most Valuable Performers, as well as others. Naya was on the Cover of 2011 November issue of FHM magazine in US, UK and Australia. She is now the Spokesperson of Proactiv Solution. She also will appear in 'The Glee Project' season 2 as a mentor in Sexuality episode Source Career * She did K-Mart commercials as a baby. * She portrayed Hillary Winston on the episodes Just One Date, Heart Strings and Mama's Wedding from "The Royal Family". * She portrayed Cindy on the episode Bundle of joy from "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". * "Family Matters" as Gwendolyn * "Live Shot" * "Smart Guy" * "House Blend" * "Even Stevens" * "The Master of Disguise" * "The Bernie Mac Show" (6 Episodes) * "8 Simple Rules" * "CSI: Miami Episode: Power Trip" * "Girlfriends" * Santana Lopez in "Glee" Engagements Wedding Trivia *Naya's Puerto Rican-American & African-American on Yolanda's side and German-American & Puerto Rican-American on George's side. *Naya was 3 when Mychal was born. *Naya was 7 when Nickayla was born. *Naya was 9 when Yolanda & George got divorced. *Naya was 27 when she married Ryan. *Naya was 28 when she gave birth to Josey. *Naya was 31 when she & Ryan got divorced. *Naya's full name in Puerto Rico is Naya Marie Rivera White. External links *Twitter *Naya Rivera on IMDB http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0729369/ *NayaRivera.net http://nayarivera.net Category:Content